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YVONNE A. AKPALU

Career Highlights

Prior to joining the Rensselaer faculty in 2000, Akpalu was guest researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg Maryland. Her expertise in nanoscale structure characterization of polymer nanomaterials using X-rays and neutrons developed while she was a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has led to multiple awards including the Paul Schmidt Award for Small Angle X-ray scattering and the National Nanotechnology Initiative Early Career Scholarship for X-ray and neutron scattering. A frequent public speaker, Akpalu has offered presentations at national conferences; and several invited international conference and lecture presentations in Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic. She has also given lectures to industrial and governmental groups such as ExxonMobil, Rohm & Haas and Brookhaven National Laboratory. At Rensselaer, Akpalu teaches courses in polymer chemistry and organic chemistry. As an educator in the physical sciences, Akpalu is committed to fostering the development of students into able independent physical scientists and engineers through classroom teaching, research and effective mentoring. Towards this goal, she developed undergraduate and graduate macromolecular chemistry courses. She also participates in research programs for high school students and undergraduates. In Spring 2005, Akpalu conceived and developed a pre-college academic course, “Why Plastics?”, designed to “train tomorrow’s leaders and innovators in science, engineering and technology today”. Since its inception, “Why Plastics?”, currently a Rensselaer Enrichment Program, has been offered to over 100 pre-college students from New York State and nationwide. Several faculty, staff, students and local professional have participated in this program. Akpalu organizes and participates in activities offered by professional societies to educate the general public about the importance of science education and encourage youth to pursue careers in science and engineering. In 2007, she received the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Martin Luther King faculty/staff award in recognition of her educational activities.

Research Areas

The research efforts in Akpalu’s laboratory are directed towards understanding and building knowledge for achieving molecular level control over the structure, morphology, and engineering properties of polymeric nanomaterials. Materials of current interest are polymer nanocomposites (PNCs, polymers mixed with nanometer sized inorganic and metal particulates) based on crystalline (thermoplastic) and gel-forming polymers which include rigid amorphous polymers for fuel cells and carbohydrates for sensing and medical imaging. Our approach to building knowledge for achieving molecular level control over the structure, morphology, and engineering properties of polymeric nanomaterials is to innovatively use and develop integrated light, X-ray and neutron scattering approaches and computational methods to build a robust understanding for: Advancing the engineering design of bionanocomposites with controlled properties  Building a molecular level understanding of polymer crystallization Solution, gel and membrane structure of rigid amorphous polymers and biomolecules

Selected Publications

• Z. Xiao, Y. A. Akpalu*, “New Insights into the characteristics of fluctuations during early stage crystallization of a polyethylene”, Polymer, accepted.
• Y. A. Akpalu*, P. Peng, “Probing the melt miscibility of a commercial polyolefin blend by small-angle light scattering”, Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 2007, accepted.
• Akpalu, Y. A*., “Towards polyethylene nanocomposites with controlled properties”, Polyolefin Composites Book”, D. Nwabunma & T. Kyu (Eds.), Wiley, 2007, Chapter 13, in press.*
• Zhicheng Xiao, Jan Ilavsky, Gabrielle G. Long and Yvonne A. Akpalu*, “How do orientation fluctuations evolve to crystals?” in Lecture Notes in Physics: Progress in Understanding of Polymer Crystallization, Strobl (Eds.), Springer Press, 2007, Volume 714, Chapter 7.
• Shogbon C, Brousseau J-L, Zhang H, Benicewicz BC, Akpalu YA*, “Determination of the molecular parameters and studies of the chain conformation of polybenzimidazole in DMAc/LiCl”, Macromolecules 2006, 39: 9409-9418.
• Xiao Z, Li Y, Ma D, Schadler LS, Akpalu YA*, “Probing the use of Small-Angle Light Scattering for Characterizing Structure of Titanium Dioxide/Low Density Polyethylene Nanocomposites”, Journal of Polymer Science Polymer Physics Edition 2006, 44:1084-1095.
• Dongling Ma, Yvonne A. Akpalu, Ying Li, Richard W. Siegel and Linda S. Schadler, “Effect of Titania Nanoparticles on the Morphology of Low Density Polyethylene”, Journal of Polymer Science Part B Polymer Physics, 2005, 43, 488-497.
• Ying Li and Yvonne A. Akpalu*, “Probing the melting behavior of a homogeneous ethylene/1-hexene copolymer by small-angle light scattering”, Macromolecules, 2004, 37, 7265-7277.
• Yvonne A. Akpalu* and Youyu Lin, “Multivariable Structural Characterization of Semicrystalline Polymer Blends by Small-Angle Light Scattering”, Journal of Polymer Science Polymer Physics Edition, 2002, 40, 2714 – 2727.
• Yvonne A. Akpalu, Alamgir Karim, Sushil Sajita and Nitash Balsara, "Suppression of lateral phase separation in polyolefin thin blend films", Macromolecules, 2001, 34, 1720-1729.
• Franziska Groehn, Barry J. Bauer, Yvonne A. Akpalu, Catheryn L. Jackson, Eric J. Amis, "Dendrimer Templates for the Formation of Gold Nanoclusters", Macromolecules, 2000, 33: 6042-6050.
• Yvonne A. Akpalu and Eric J. Amis, "Effect of polydispersity on the evolution of density fluctuations to lamellar crystals in linear polyethylene", Journal of Chemical Physics, 2000, 113: 392-403.
• Yvonne A. Akpalu and Eric J. Amis, "Evolution of density fluctuations to lamellar crystals in linear polyethylene", Journal of Chemical Physics, 1999, 111: 8686-8695.
• Y. Akpalu, L. Kielhorn, B.S. Hsiao, R.S. Stein, T.P. Russell, J. van Egmond, and M. Muthukumar, "Structure Development during Crystallization of Homogeneous Copolymers of Ethene and 1-Octene: Time-resolved synchrotron x-ray and SALS", Macromolecules 1999, 32: 765-770.   


*denotes corresponding author

Professional Appointments

2000-Present		Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy , NY.
1997-1999		Guest Researcher, Polymers Division, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD

Professional Preparation

University of Massachusetts, Amherst		Polymer Sci. & Eng.		Ph. D. 1998
University of Massachusetts, Amherst		Polymer Sci. & Eng.		M.S. 1994
Smith Colllege, Northamption, MA		Chemistry & Physics High Honors Chemistry		B.A. 1992